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Polar Alignment problem in 3.5.3 stable

  • Posts: 30
  • Thank you received: 2
Greetings,

Today I experienced a strange problem with polar alignment when I was on the field. I run 3.5.3 stable version on Ubuntu 20.04. Altitude adjustment worked fine and accurate,however azimuth adjustment seemed like something is broken.
Azimuth knob was at its maximum motion and I couldn't follow the green line. Whatever I did (park data and configuration data purge,changing directions and speed and more) couldn't solve my problem. I installed 3.5.3 from source when the packages for Ubuntu 20.04 through PPA were broken. I think something was not installed correctly. Capture,scheduler,guiding and plate solving worked fine. I am thinking od deleting Kstars,indi,indi-bin and more from my laptop and reinstalling them again through PPA now that seems they are fixed. What do you think is the problem?
Sorry for the low-quality attached photo,I captured it with my mobile phone.

Best regards,
George Lekkas
2 years 10 months ago #71100
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Last night I checked it because I have problem with the guide. So I runned the polar align at SUD because I do no see the NORD and Polaris.
Every time that I run the Polat Tool it give me different values, but the mout is untouched and fixed.

In this image I marked the guide star before starting the focus procedure and the star goes away in less than 3minutes, and the polar difference was only 14seconds out.


I runned again the Polar Align and the error was growed up to 50seconds.


I runned the Polar Drift Align from PHD2 and it give ma a valuve around 2arc-min out from the pole.
I was unable to check it again because of clouds, and I am going out of mind to check and solve it.
2 years 10 months ago #71104
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GEOLEK, One possible explanation is that the mount was simply at its maximum horizontal azimuth range and would not correct for the error. Therefore, the whole mount has to be physically moved and then you can try the PAA again.
Last edit: 2 years 10 months ago by Jasem Mutlaq.
2 years 10 months ago #71105

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Mmmm, I can make adjustments throught azimuth or altitude screws, but every time that I run the PPA, I get different values
2 years 10 months ago #71108

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PORKYHTTP, My theory is that once the error is below 1 arcmin, other sources of error are more pronounced and could explain the variance in the results. e.g. cone error, non-perpendicularity of RA/DE axis, flexure..etc. So if you get < 1 arcmin, I say stop and call it a day UNLESS you want to fix the other sources of errors as well which could take a while to figure out.
Last edit: 2 years 10 months ago by Jasem Mutlaq.
2 years 10 months ago #71109

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Greetings Jasem,

Thank you for your answer. This is the only thing I can think of. Maybe I had put almost at its maximum azimuth knob range from the start and as a result I couldn't make adjustments. I noticed that the azimuth adjustments go east side so I will max out the azimuth knob to have plenty of range to go to. If not today,tomorrow I will check again and update this post.

Greetings PORKYHTTP,

When I start the polar alignment lets say for example west,30 degrees, and the error is too high,I adjust the knobs until the star I picked moves to the corner of the image in the direction of the lines (as closer to the hypothetical crosshairs as possible). Then I don't hit "done",I just hit "stop",and go to the opposite direction, east,30 degrees. I repeat this sequence until I have the crosshairs in my image. Last night I made a foolish mistake when clouds cleared for one night the last month .

Best regards,
George.
2 years 10 months ago #71110

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I have to try to switch from WEST to EAST when the first attempt was done. I must use 20degree or less because I do not have a large FOV from my position at home
2 years 10 months ago #71111

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Greetings Alessandro,

I don't think 20 degrees will be a problem. I have done it with 15 and I had a dead center plate solving. Just keep in mind NOT to hit "done". Just stop the process,switch from west to east and the opposite (based on which direction you begin) and start the process again. You may need to do the process several times based on how much error you've got. But be patient. Wish you the best.

George.
The following user(s) said Thank You: ALESSANDRO PENSATO
2 years 10 months ago #71116

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